Thursday, March 28, 2013

Adventures in Housesitting- Day 1

I would call myself a big animal lover. Please don't get your mind twisted or in the gutter when I say things like that... sheesh. But as I was saying I love animals of all shapes, sizes, colors, species, and usually personalities or at least I thought I did until last night when I had a Mexican standoff with one Itty the Cat! Now this isn't my cat mind you... I do prefer dogs as my own personal pet of choice, but I've never had any issues with cats either.

But yesterday I started house sitting for a friend of mine who has quite the menagerie of critters all of which I get along with famously, except for Itty, who until yesterday I thought was the easy one of the bunch. I had been instructed that Itty could be let out of the house for a little while to explore and do his business and that all I had to do was shake his little treat bag out the door when it was time to come in. HA.... I repeat.... HA!

Instead Itty decided it was time to go on an 8 hour outdoor safari around the property. I shook that little treat bag like it was a set of maracas to no avail. So I decided to give it a rest for a little while and at some point he'd just get sick of being outside. That was around hour 2 of this little ordeal. By Hour 4 I was beginning to worry because it was well after dark and there are plenty of coyotes, cougars, and other predators around that would think house cat would make a fine meal. So I searched the house for a flashlight, bundled up and started searching the property (which is good sized I might add). I searched around the garden, the horse corral, the chicken coupe, the bunny cages, the front yard, the back yard, the road that goes down to the river, and so on, but never spotted the grey and black striped little fur ball.

By this point I'm getting a little ticked off and sick of searching in 18 degree temps so I headed back up to the house hoping that maybe Itty would be waiting by one of the doors. NOPE... no such luck. So I start turning on lights hoping it would be a beacon of love in the darkness... no luck. So then I turned off all the lights thinking that maybe he'd finally get the clue that it was bed time and no one was going to let him in... no luck there either. Finally around midnight the little sucker started walking back and forth in front of the back sliding glass door. I was so relieved that I jumped up to let him in and as soon as I came toward the door he right off into the night again.

This little cat and mouse game (no pun intended) lasted for the next two hours. Until finally at 2 am I heard a soft little meow at the front door. I slowly crossed the living room, crept across the front entry way and slowly opened the door. And there sitting as innocently as could be was Itty (the devil cat) looking at me with the expression of "what took you so long to open the door". He walked right into the house as if nothing wrong had happened at all and looking for his evening meal which he had earlier refused to eat. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

So while his owner says he is allowed outside I do believe Itty is going to be an indoor kitty for the next few days and will just have to settle for the liter box.

About Me

I am a lover of the outdoors, a passion that was created in me at an early age by my father who was a forester by training and a practical man by nature. I grew up spending as much time as possible in the mountains and high land prarie lands of Wyoming. Following in my father's footsteps I attended the University of Montana and recieved my Bachelors of Science in Wildlife Biology. I've spent the last 6 years since graduating working random jobs in the woods in the Cabinet Mountains of northwestern Montana and love every minute of it. Currently I'm working as a preschool aid and have realized I'm still very much a kid at heart. I decided in my spare time to create this blog to share my stories and research with those that have similar interests. Happy reading to you all.